The Tuthill GT One Sets Out To Fix The Porsche 911 GT1

In the late ’90s, the various bodies that oversaw sports car racing decided that the discipline’s top class should feature machinery based on road cars. The thing is, they were quite… vague about how they defined road cars, which is how we ended up with things like the Porsche 911 GT1 Strassenversion. The mid-engined GT1 was a huge success as a racing car, but the Strassenversion – literally ‘Street Version’ – was… a bit compromised. That’s what British Porsche specialist Tuthill has set out to fix with the GT One.

Created as the result of talks between the company and one of its clients – film producer Elliott Ross – it’s designed to be something in the spirit of the Strasenversion, and other sports car homologation specials of the eras, that you might actually be able to drive on the road without breaking out into a cold sweat.

Tuthill doesn’t say what it’s based on. That greenhouse is very reminiscent of the 996-generation 911, which the later GT1s nominally resembled, but whatever it is has been extensively re-engineered by the looks of things.

Just 22 will be built, and buyers have a good amount of choice. Its 4.0-litre flat-six can be had in either naturally aspirated or forced induction (we’d assume twin-turbo) guise, making ‘over’ 500 and 600bhp, respectively. That’s driven through either a seven-speed dual-clutch or an H-pattern manual gearbox.

The carbon fibre body, penned by California-based designer Florian Flatau, integrates fully opening front and rear clamshells – cool. Thanks in no small part to all that carbon, the whole thing only weighs 1200kg. It also gets double-wishbone suspension both front and rear, as well as carbon ceramic brakes.

Tuthill says the GT One is explicitly designed for use on the road, but it clearly knows its clients too well, and might develop a track-biased aero package. Just in case you do want to show some Clio 197s a thing or two at Bedford Autodrome, it already comes with a full FIA-grade rollover protection setup.

Company boss Richard Tuthill said: “We have taken inspiration from all that we have done in the past and have been inspired by what others have done before us and continue to do. As usual, I sincerely hope those who wish to own one of these will also wish to drive them as often as they can and create memories that will last a lifetime.”

It’s making its official debut at Monterey Car Week, although you may well have already seen it – it was caught fully undisguised on the tarmac at Los Angeles Airport last week.